Mass. police officer indicted in Salem sex assault

BRENTWOOD — A Lawrence, Mass., police officer already jailed in Florida on sexual assault charges was indicted in a second case involving a Salem girl dating back to 1992.

Carlos Gonzalez III, 48, is facing 14 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault in the Salem case for an ongoing pattern of abuse that began when the girl was 11 years old, according to indictments.

Gonzalez, of Plummer Road in Lawrence, Mass., was arrested on Feb. 27 as a fugitive from justice on the Florida charges while attending a class at the Massachusetts School of Law in Andover, Mass.

He has been a Lawrence police officer since 1988, but was studying to become a lawyer at the time of his arrest. He remains on a paid administrative leave from his job.

Just prior to his arrest, Salem police opened their own investigation into a report of a sexual assault in their town that happened years earlier.

A grand jury returned the indictments in the Salem case while meeting earlier this month in Rockingham County Superior Court.

Court documents say Gonzalez began sexually assaulting the girl by “rubbing up against her” beginning on May 1, 1992 when the girl was 11 years old.

The alleged activity continued up until May 15, 1994, according to indictments.

Gonzalez is being held at a Florida jail on $165,000 bail, awaiting trial on charges of sexual battery by a custodian on a person between the ages of 12 and 18. He was also charged with giving or serving alcohol to a minor.

Police say that Gonzalez sexually assaulted the underage girl last July while on vacation in Haines City, Fla.

It’s unclear when he will be brought back to New Hampshire to face charges. If a jury convicts him in the New Hampshire case, he could face up to 10 to 20 years in state prison on each of the charges.